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Oceanfront SkyWheel plans on hold ‘indefinitely’

Posted at 3:46 PM, May 12, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-13 09:00:18-04

Plans for a major Oceanfront attraction are now on hold.

The SkyWheel won’t be spinning at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront anytime soon.

Koch Development is the firm that wanted to put up a 200-foot-tall enclosed Ferris wheel, similar to one in Myrtle Beach.

But now they have asked that their application be indefinitely suspended.

The developers were trying to get everything approved so that they could break ground on the project after the summer season, opening the SkyWheel in the Spring of 2015 at 17th Street.

But owners of the Dolphin Inn next door objected. They worried that riders could also peer into the rooms of people staying at the hotel.

The city’s planning commission rejected the proposal but the planning commission is just an advisory group.

The Virginia Beach City Council could have overridden it or agreed when they were set to vote on May 27th.

So when could we see it happen?

The letter asking for the application to be delayed says with this deferral, the proposed SkyWheel will not be opening before the Summer of 2016.

Update: Beach Planning Commission rejects proposed SkyWheel

Could a new Oceanfront attraction become a perch for peeping toms?